Marissa Alexander has a trial date that is set for November 8th. While this is a small piece of good news, it’s still not the freedom she deserves, but it’s one step closer. A judge will decide if Marissa will be released from prison as she waits for her new trial after an incident in which she fired a warning shot at her abusive husband. No one was shot and or harmed in the scuffle, but the 33-year-old mother of two was slapped with a 20-year sentence.

Marissa’s defense attempted to use the controversial Florida law, Stand Your Ground, but was denied that right. In a post Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman world, many people of color were outraged that Marissa had a legitimate reason to protect herself, no one was killed and she was jailed. The mandatory 20-year sentence under Florida’s 10-20-life law covers all crimes involving firearms, but it became a ridiculous display of the unbalanced scale of justice when race is involved.

An appeals court judge ordered a new trial for Marissa last month, not because of the Stand Your Ground ruling in the case, but because the “jury instructions on self-defense were erroneous” in her first trial. The new trial date has been set for March 31, 2014, according to the Florida Times-Union. We’re hoping the judge decides to let Marissa spend her time waiting on her trial out of prison. But given the track record of our justice system, it’s not looking good.